Writer Harry Mulisch dies at 83

Dutch writer Harry Mulisch, author of The Assault (De Aanslag) and The Discovery of Heaven (De ontdekking van de Hemel), has died at the age of 83.

Mulisch, considered by many a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, died of cancer at his Amsterdam home.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte called his death "a loss for Dutch literature and the Netherlands".

Mulisch wrote more than 30 works, several with a World War II theme.

The Discovery of Heaven (De ontdekking van de Hemel) was named Best Dutch Book Ever in 2007.

The jury was made up of Dutch newspaper readers.

Mulisch was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands. The Assault was his first major best-seller, set during World War II in the occupied Netherlands and looking at the ethical and political questions raised by the conflict....